Wyatt James has arrived!

Well my official due date was Sunday, July 24th. I had an appointment with my doctor on Thursday before and I was at 3 cm and 50% effaced. She was really hoping I went that weekend, but if not she wanted me back in the office Monday morning first thing so she could check him with ultrasound and see how we could progress things to get him here. Apparently you can no longer go over a week past your due date or they induce. I was very against inducing - the pitocin is a tough medicine for me, so I REALLY wanted to have him naturally if at all possible.

Here I am at 40 weeks with Wyatt.

When she checked me on Monday I was at 4-4.5 cm and she figured that I would have him soon, but if not we scheduled an induction for the following Monday. Monday I had taken Tucker and Jace to Mothers Day Out (not our normal day, but I had a free pass from prior days we had missed, so it was a good day for them to go since I had to go to the doctor). When I picked them up we went to eat an early dinner with my mom and dad, grandparents, and my aunt who drove in from Wisconsin the day before. We were celebrating my dad's 56th birthday. After we ate (around 5) I stood up and immediately had a contraction that stopped me in my tracks. Once it passed I got the boys to the car and we were headed home to get a change of clothes so we could drive out to the house and drop off dinner with Jonathan and show my aunt the house before she left on Tuesday. Well, I had two other contractions - one on the way home and one when I got to the house, and I knew that I shouldn't go anywhere, so I put my hospital bag in the car and Mrs. Pam happened to pull in the garage about the time we were loading up to go. I told her that I was having contractions and she suggested maybe I didn't go out to the land. I called Jonathan and he agreed. I left the boys downstairs with her and got in the tub to soak (right around 6 pm) because my contractions were about 10-11 minutes apart and didn't seem to be slowing down, but the water helped with the pain.  I got out when I realized they were close to 8 minutes apart and texted Jonathan that he should probably start loading up and head this way. These were different than the other two and I just wasn't quite sure what to think. Well he flew home (literally), jumped in the shower really quick, and by that time my contractions were about 4 1/2 minutes apart. We left for Methodist Germantown around 7:45 and by the time we got to the hospital my contractions were less than 3 minutes apart - some were 2, others were 2 1/2 minutes, but not much breathing room and it was full on back labor. I've never had back labor with the others, so I had no idea what to expect, but it's NO FUN. I seriously wouldn't wish that on ANYONE.

When we got to the hospital, Jonathan got me a wheelchair and a nurse who was leaving was kind enough to wheel me into check in. I tried to tell her my info but all I could say is I think I need to push....so they rushed me back and right before they were taking me Jonathan thankfully walked in and we were off to the room immediately. The nurses were quick and very kind to help me, and gave me a gown, even though it took me forever to get it on bc my contractions were so close together at that point I didn't have a break. They made me sit there for 20 minutes as part of the monitoring they had to do on Wyatt before they could let me get up. I BEGGED for them to let me do the intermittent and if I could get up and not have to sit in the bed - I kept telling Jonathan that if I had to stay in the bed I couldn't do it. I HAD TO GET UP. As soon as they realized that I was already at 6 cm when I got there, they called the Doctor on call (of course my doctor wasn't on call til the next morning), and it was Doctor Monroe. She was there very quickly and was like a cheerleader, so excited I was going natural and kept telling me I could do it. When she arrived I was at 8cm and she broke my water. I asked if I could get in the shower and she agreed. That was the most relief I had the entire labor. It was INTENSE and the water was wonderful to help with the contractions. I sat in the shower for about 15 minutes, but then Jonathan was pretty sure I needed to get back in the bed because we were afraid he was close to making his appearance. Within about 10 minutes of getting back Dr Monroe came in and just sat down on the bed with me and said "we are going to just go ahead and deliver him right here so you don't have to move." Within 3 pushes he made his arrival at 9:52pm- July 25th (on my dad's birthday!).

I was so thankful for a staff who was quick and didn't think I was playing around when we arrived. Once they had taken care of all the checking out of Wyatt and all was calm again, I nursed Wyatt while Jonathan went to the waiting room and brought back Tucker - I had no idea he was actually there until after I had Wyatt. My mom had asked about it, but I didn't want them to be waiting in the waiting room and being rowdy for hours on end, so I just figured that they would be better to go on to bed and see him in the morning. My sister-in-law, Sarah, was kind enough to go to the house so that she could stay with them and my in-laws could come to the hospital. Jonathan told her to go ahead and bring Tucker if he wanted to come because he knew that it wouldn't be long. Apparently they arrived right after he did, so there wasn't too much waiting Tucker had to do. Jace, on the other hand just wanted to go to bed....my typical expectation - the home body!

Tucker was BEYOND excited that Wyatt was finally here. Jonathan said that he ran and jumped into his arms when he walked out and was squeezing him so tight he couldn't pull him off! He was so thrilled to meet him and was SO SO proud. Brings tears to my eyes just thinking about how sweet (and very different) this go around has been.

So excited to see his daddy

Telling him all about how excited he is and can't wait to meet Wyatt...

Proud big brother right there!

After Tucker got to come back into the room, everyone else in the waiting room came back - my parents, Jonathan's parents and brother and sister in law, and then my aunt arrived just a few minutes later. It was a big old party for sure.

Grandparents in waiting room:

Wyatt and my dad now share a birthday :) 

Once my hour of being in the room post delivery was up, they took us to a room to stay in the rest of our visit - that was about 11:15 when we arrived there. We finally got to bed around 2 am that night. It was a long night, but so wonderful and we are so blessed to have three healthy and happy little boys. I'm so excited to see how God knits their hearts together over the years. I'm praying they have an unbreakable bond between the three of them.

The boys came to visit the next morning - Jace was excited to see him, and seems much more happy about him than I had expected. 

I had shirts made from a friend in my life group at church - the boys are big into Ninga Turtles right now - even though they have NEVER seen it on TV or anywhere else - Tucker has friends who told him about them, so now he likes them .... All that to say I had shirts made up for them with ninja masks - Tucker's was blue, Jace's was orange, and Wyatt's was red. They turned out so cute!

Happy to see my boys for sure!

An attempt at a family picture...

This was Wednesday morning while we were waiting to be discharged. Look at those fat cheeks... oh I could eat him up!

Mrs. Pam and the boys made a sign for Wyatt's coming home....Tucker drew each of us and wrote our names, and also there's a horse and a cowboy, Jace drew Nemo and helped color the top. Love their sweet efforts! 

The boys have been at MDO and staying with my mom Thursday and Friday so I could have a little recovery time. It's been a great few days home but I'm ready for us all to be together. Jonathan is on call starting today through next Thursday, so it should be interesting, but I've got plenty of help. Thankful we are still here :) 

Good morning world!